The Twins started the season with 16 pitchers, arms in abundance thanks to the lockout prompting expanded rosters for the first month of the season. But with injuries mounting recently, that luxury is starting to fade.
Starter Sonny Gray has been on the injured list since leaving an April 16 game with hamstring tightness. Righthanded reliever Jhon Romero joined him there Saturday with right bicep tendinitis. Fellow reliever Jorge Alcala was on the 10-day list with right elbow inflammation but transferred to the 60-day list Saturday. And that doesn't even count relief pitcher Randy Dobnak or starter Kenta Maeda, who have all been dealing with long-term injuries since before spring training began.
The Twins were going to have to trim the roster by two anyway after May 1, so manager Rocco Baldelli said he will just have to be flexible up to that point.
"It works out fine because of the guys that we do have," Baldelli said. "We also have an off day coming [on Monday] as well that you can kind of look toward and know what you need."
Baldelli pointed to Josh Winder, a starter who has pitched out of the bullpen so far his rookie season, as someone that gives him peace of mind. Winder could throw 85 pitches in relief in needed, which could help on short-bullpen days.
Of Alcala, Baldelli said the extended stay on the IL wasn't an indication that surgery was in the future. But Alcala will head to Fort Myers, Fla., to rehab at the Twins facility there alongside Dobnak and Maeda.
Romero began feeling some discomfort about a week ago and thought he could play through it. In Spanish through an interpreter, he said he will take two days off before starting to ramp back up and imagines he will be back to normal in about a week.
Sanchez sidelined
While he isn't going on the IL, the Twins will be without Gary Sanchez' services for a few days. The catcher and sometimes designated hitter was a late scratch ahead of Friday's game. An MRI came back mostly clean, but he is still dealing with some abdominal tightness.
Ryan Jeffers will catch more games than he already does, but the Twins also called up Jose Godoy from Triple-A St. Paul as a backup option. Romero's IL exit made room for Godoy on the 28-man roster while Alcala's longer IL stint made space on the 40-man roster.
Baldelli's Cabrera history
Miguel Cabrera became the 33rd MLB player to reach 3,000 hits with his first-inning single for Detroit on Saturday against Colorado. But if any Twins fans are looking back at some of Cabrera's greatest hits, they will see a Baldelli cameo. Well, at least his back as he runs to the wall at Pro Player Stadium while the ball sails over his head.
On June 20, 2003, a 21-year-old Baldelli was about halfway through his rookie season with Tampa Bay and facing the Marlins. Cabrera, then age 20, was making his debut, and smashed a walk-off homer, just the third player since 1900 to achieve such a feat.
Baldelli would like everyone to know, though, that scouting reports were not as advanced nearly 20 years ago like there are today. So he didn't necessarily know Cabrera's capabilities — not that it would have helped the center fielder when the homer sailed well out of his reach.
"That's a big ballpark, and you don't just whack a line drive over the center-field fence at Pro Player Stadium. I mean, you better hit the ball like a man," Baldelli said. "And he was hitting the ball like a full-grown man, and he was probably one of the best hitters in the game at that point. We just didn't know it."
Baldelli said Cabrera has created many memorable moments that Baldelli has experienced playing against him as a player and a manager.
"When you show up to the ballpark, you're immediately finding him with your eyes, and he gets your attention. And for all good reasons. He's one of the greatest hitters in the history of our game," Baldelli said. "You end up, everything you do kind of revolves around preparing for him. And it was like that for many, many years."
